4 days ago
Documentary filmmaker hopes to help solve Tinley Park Lane Bryant murders
Seventeen and a half years later, the murder of five women at a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park, Illinois, remains one of the most infamous cold cases in the Chicago area.
On Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008, five women were shot and killed inside the Lane Bryant store inside the Brookside Marketplace Shopping Center at 191st Street and Harlem Avenue during a robbery.
The robber took the store manager and four customers to the back and shot them all.
Killed were store manager Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet; and customers Connie Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; Sarah Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort; and Jennifer Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Indiana. A sixth woman, a store employee, was also shot and wounded.
The sixth woman worked closely with police to develop a sketch of the suspect.
McFarland's brothers, Maurice and Vincent Hamilton, are still determined to solve the case. So is documentary filmmaker Charlie Minn, who hopes his new film will finally answer the question of who killed the women and why that person hasn't been caught.
"This case, in my opinion, needs a temper tantrum," said Minn, "because we're going on 18 years."
Maurice and Vincent Hamilton also lost their mother last year. She died without ever knowing who killed her daughter.
"Trust that she's up in heaven with her, so we take that as a sign of relief," said Vincent Hamilton.
McFarland's voice was heard on an eerie 911 call before the murders. She whispered, "Lane Bryant, Tinley Park, hurry."
"It was chilling, but I knew that she was doing the right thing," said Maurice Hamilton, "and like I said, she's a hero."
Also in the background of that call was the muffled voice of the murderer. Maurice and Vincent Hamilton said they will never stop searching for that voice.
"I think of the person as a coward, and I wish nothing but the worst for him," said Maurice Hamilton. "He'll come to justice one day, whether it's here or up there."
Filmmaker Minn is now in production on his documentary "Who Killed these Women? The Tinley Park 5."
"So these are the stories that really affect me emotionally," Minn said.
Minn said the "victim-centered" documentary hopes to draw attention to the case on more than just the anniversary of the crime.
"We have to talk about ideas and thoughts on how to solve this thing, and it just can't be done talking about this once a year," Minn said.
